Hero's Born and Made: Zeia's Story
by misstresssasori
Summary: Zeia wasn't pleased when her parents forbid her from making a journey, she was pissed when they wouldn't let her pick out a Pokémon. Telling her to marry a man twice her age was the last straw. With the help of her maid she runs away from the aristocratic world she knew and into the Unova region, but threats hide behind every corner, and age old secrets are going to haunt her soon.
1. The Introduction

A/N: Hello and welcome to 'Hero's Born and Made' a series about Pokémon trainers and their lives. This is Zeia's story, "In the Heart of an Empath," but you all might have read Hopes story. These two go together, and eventually you'll get to see the two working together from different points of view! So hang on and let's go for a ride!

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_**Hero's Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**_

_**In the Heart of an Empath.**_

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In the Pokémon world children may leave for their journeys at the age of ten. However, if the parent doesn't want the child to leave they can stop the journey. All it takes is a good reason.

Insanity, bad health, being incapable of caring for themselves, emotionally unfit, or being needed at home for some reason or another are very common reasons to stop a Pokémon journey. Some times the child really does need to stay home. The clauses may be true, but not always.

You mainly see this happening in abusive families or with over protective parents' the most. There are, however, others who do it too. If power corrupts and ultimate power courts ultimately then what does money do? Wreak lives like mine, or at least change them.

You see, the rich 'aristocratic' families have a single heir mentality. They really need it too. Having to many heirs can mean competitions for the inheritance rights. Those competitions have a tendency of getting messy and bringing shame to the family name.

But if a family has only one heir then what happens when that single heir dies on a Pokémon journey? The more socially elite families often bribe judges to forbid their children from journeys. This means that they aren't going to lose their only heir, but it also means that these heirs grow up not caring about Pokémon journeys. They don't feel guilty about forbidding their children because they never went themselves. It's the snowball effect.

How did no one see this and stop it you ask. It is easy to get what you want when you're old money. All you have to do is bribe some people. Everyone has a price; you just have to find it.

My name is Zeia. I was deemed incapable of going on my Pokémon journey by court order when I was ten. My parents convinced the court that I was too ill. Our privet family doctor was given a raise to ensure his agreement, and I would bet my left hand that some of the jury where in my fathers pockets as well.

My parents told me they just could not let their 'little girl' go away on such a 'dangerous journey' into 'unlivable and hospitable' landscapes with just some 'simple minded beast' to aid me. I smell bullshit. More likely they didn't want to have to share a room long enough to make my replacement if I died.

So that is what brought me here. I am sixteen years of age now, and my parents have told me I am to meet my future husband today. While you can not legally force you child into a marriage any more, there are other ways. Blackmail, bribery, torture, brainwashing, and even hypnotism have been used to force people to marry.

I have grown up my entire life being told that the man my parents pick out for me will bring me the most happiness. I believed it right up until they lied to the world to get me banned form my Pokémon journey. Then they made it worse by trying to bribe me with pre trained Pokémon.

Pre trained Pokémon have their spirits beat out of them so that they will be like puppets to their owners. I wanted a Pokémon who could be my partner not a Purrloin who would follow me around cringing in my skirts or an Emolga who would be to afraid to fly.

We have argues with each other for six years, but now my parents' are finally allowing me to buy my own Pokémon with out them hovering over my shoulder rejecting all my choices. Tomorrow I will buy a Pokémon who can learn to fight, a Pokémon who can protect me, and a Pokémon who I can call a partner.

Tomorrow my life truly begins.

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A/N: Okay guys that's a wrap! Please check out lynzylu and her story Hero's Born and Made, Hopes Story now! It already has two chapters up!


	2. Life of a Lady

A/N: _**IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!**_ Of currency on the Pokémon world, which they call Poké, One Poké equals one cent. So 100 Poké is one dollor or so forth. I you want to know how much I've priced things at, just divide by 100 or nock off the last two zero's on the end of number, and that wil tell you how much it costs in Canadian Dollars (Because I am proud to live on Canada).

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_**Hero's Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**_

_**In the Heart of an Empath.**_

**Chapter One.**

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The sounds of the sea invaded a wandering shopper's ears. The tall girl pulled her long black hair into a half pony tail with a bright red ribbon. Her silver eyes glanced around her at the familiar sights.

She had pale skin and light pink lips, which gave her a ghost like look as if she could fade out of existence at any moment. Her name is Zeia.

'_Castelia,'_ the girl thought softly._ 'It's the largest city in Unova, with the only sea side market. One can find allsorts of Pokémon for sale.' _She sighed and glanced around her again. 'So why can't I find one I like?'

Zeia walked down the street until she came to the Castelia cone shop. She purchased an ice cream before entering a near by Pokémon shop. She couldn't help but sigh again. _'All shop Pokémon have been raised to obey.'_ Her silver eyes took in the offered merchandise with a hint of annoyance. _'The fight of the wild had been stomped right out of them.'_

A male voice broke her from her thoughts. "Can I help you miss?" the guy asked. A quick glance at his name tag told Zeia his name was Bob. Her eyes seemed to bore through his for a second before she smiled sweetly at him. Through it all her eyes remained like ice, but the cashier didn't notice.

She ran her pink tongue over the cone of the ice cream erotically, and Bob's eyes followed it like glue. "I _want_ to buy a Pokémon." She told him before licking her lips. His eyes followed that movement as well. "I want to buy an untrained Pokémon to train myself. May I see the ones in the _back room_?"

Bob nodded like an excited puppy and led her to a door hidden in a corner before unlocking it. "We won't be interrupted here." He told her.

The room was full of Pokémon in cages. In the cages were Minccino and Cinccino, an old Galvantula, some Cottonee, and a Shelmet. There was even a breeder's pair of Unfezants in there too. Zeia had to struggle to keep her irritation off of her face as she saw the meager pickings.

"There's nothing I want here." She told him as she turned and briskly walked out the door. An upset "Hey!" followed her out side, but she kept going until she had reached the sea side market place.

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With a sad sigh Zeia settled on one of the piers and gazed out at the sea. Two hours of wandering the market and what did she have to show for it, Nothing! Her black hair whipped around her, released from the red ribbon for a time. Her white summer dress blew around her as well. The silk didn't make a noise in the salty wind.

She glanced at the market before heaving herself up. '_Maybe there will be something I missed.' _She thought hopefully as she stepped forward. She felt soft fur brush her body before a Purrloin raced past. Her instinctual glance down showed a trail of red dots following it. _'Blood?'_ she pondered.

'_Its hurt!'_ the thought was only in her head an instant before she was off, chasing after it with a speed few humans could match in high heels. The Purrloin stumbled before darting into a side street. Zeia skidded in a second later.

It trembled as it stared at Zeia in fear. She squatted down and pulled out the red ribbon for her hair out of her purse. "I just want to help you." She crooned softly to the Purrloin. Watching it carefully she crawled forward.

The Purrloin tensed before sitting back on its haunches. A second later it tried to spring right over Zeia's head. She simply stood up and caught it, wrapping her arms around its furry body before sitting down. The Purrloin struggled but could not escape.

Its front right leg was dripping blood, so Zeia held it away from her white dress. She knew from misadventures with stairs that bloodstains were a bitch to get out of silk. A small yellow tube was pulled out of her purse, and Zeia held it up for the Purrloin to see.

"This is Polispore." She told it. "It is made from Foongus spores and will stave off infections and other nasty things." She kept her voice at a soft coo as she spoke.

A pinch of powder was dropped on the wound. Almost instantly it started to clot and scab over. Zeia then wrapped the ribbon around the paw like it was gauze; grateful for once that she used cotton ribbons instead of silk. After a couple of seconds worth of failing to get the end tied one-handed she let out a huff.

'Damn you slippery ribbon!'

Zeia popped a silver broach off her dress and pinned the makeshift band aid shut. The broach itself was silver with 'Zeia' spelled out in tiny emeralds. "There you go." She put the Purrloin down. It glanced at her before taking off. Just before it turned the corner it seemed to almost blur. In that instant its tail was black with a red tip. Then the shimmer was gone and Zeia was left to shake her head over her strange imagination.

In the end she took a different exit out of the side street from normal, and ended up in the poorer side of town. She was boxed in by houses with peeling paint and no lawns. Taking another street she did not recognize led her to a market, and for an instant she thought she had found the sea side market she'd spent all morning in.

She soon realized her error. The stalls were shadowy and the dealers far less friendly than the market she had thought she was in. An inkling of suspicion filled her mind.

A booth near her was selling Haxorus hide and Beartic fur clothing; she froze. There were some Pokémon that are so rarely found in the wild that they are red listed. Red listed Pokémon cannot be hunted or killed, and products made of them were illegal. The stuff the dealer was selling was all from red listed Pokémon.

A quick glance around showed that several booths were selling contraband things like red listed Pokémon and exported Pokémon from other regions. Zeia barely suppressed a smile of excitement. This was the black market that children and adults whispered of in the shadows. She knew that not everybody that went in came out alive, and the thought made her blood run. The weariness of wandering around all morning fell away.

It didn't take long to find what she needed. In the middle of that cess pit of human depravity it took Zeia only a few momments to find a secton of booths selling pokémon eggs.

There was a booth that was selling uncommon Pokémon eggs. Most of the eggs were to cold to hatch, of had cracks on them that told her they were stillborns who hadn't managed to hatch. It was only after searching the pile awhile that she found one warm enough to hatch.

"That thar' a Zorua egg. Tha' is." The man's breath washed over Zeia, making her wrinkle her nose at the smell of cheap cigarettes. The egg rocked softly in her arms, and they knew for sure it was alive.

"How much?" she asked, still to focused on the egg to notice the man eyeing her clingy dress. He leered at her when she turned to look at him. His rotten teeth flashed as he smirked.

"How 'er 'bought we go 'round back and negotiate?" he asked with a crude ogle of her long legs. She glared at him and he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. He probably wasn't expecting Zeia's face to shift to a blank mask. The only thing to give her anger away was a barely visible twitching of her left eye, but the man never got a chance to notice that. Her silver eyes seemed to bounce his sudden fear back at him, and for a second she looked more like an avenging goddess than a teenager.

'_It always works for mother.'_ She reminded herself before speaking. "I think I must have misheard you scum. How much was this object?" there was tone of violence in her voice that even that man could pick up on. The dealer paled as he reevaluated her. While her cloths might be plain they were made of fine silk and the wallet she now held in her hand was full of cash.

"40,000 Poké." He told her. The money switched hands and Zeia left with the egg hidden inside her purse. Said purse was clutched as close to her body as it could be without being in the range of body langue that screamed 'I've got something I don't want stolen in here!' She did get a couple speculative glances, but she got out alive.

The egg was hers!

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Zeia ended up strolling past liberty pier and decided to take a detour to the Castelia Gym. Burgh had been her art tutor since her parents had pulled her out of privet school. Apparently it made the 'she's to sick to go on a journey' story _far_ more realistic, exactly what she need at the moment.

Yeah, she was still pissed about that.

She shared a tired smile with Richie at the front desk. He'd been recording trainers win and loses all day and Zeia had been wandering a chunk of the city she'd never seen before. A few minutes of chatting with the secretary and she was pinning a visitors badge onto her chest.

Visitor badges are special badges for non trainers who are going to see the gym leader to wear. It lets the gym bound trainers know that they can't battle the person wearing it, and gives the visitor the right to the quickest way to the gym leader unopposed.

When she found Burgh was painting a defeated challenger's Beedrill, and seeing one of those out of Kanto was a shocker. she stood to the side to wait for him to finish. He waved the paint brush currently in his hand at her in greeting. "How is my favorite student?" he asked as he finished the sharp stinger by laying a line of white to be shine from the light source.

"Lovely." Zeia said as she pulled her purse open. "Got my self a Pokémon egg." The moment her hands touched the egg a feeling of peace filled her.

"What did you pick?" he asked as he cleaned his brush. A dab of black came next as the start of an eye.

She pulled the egg fully out of the purse as she turned to look at him fully. "Haven't the foggiest." She answered truthfully. "To shadow in the stall to see what it was."

Now that she was able to see it clearly she could tell that it was an uncommon egg. It was larger then most eggs and was basely black. There were blue triangles all across it with red speckles as if someone had splattered it with paint. She'd never seen anything like it before.

Apparently nether had Burgh. "I don't know what it is." He admitted to her as he looked it over. "I have honestly never seen anything like this." Without even realizing it he had given her a clue. Burgh knew what most common Pokémon eggs looked like, so this must be a very rare or even red listed egg for him to not recognize it.

"Eggs are not really my thing thought." He reminded her as she glanced over the egg again.

She gave him a soft smile before packing up to leave. "I know. You did your best on it Burgh; I am not upset." With that she walked away. She still had to visit one more place before she went home to meet her "soon-to-be-husband" for dinner.

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Letting out a sigh as she sat down, Zeia scrutinized the room before her. Hidden in the heart of the city was an underground fighting zone. Of course this was not a Pokémon fighting place, but one for people themselves to fight each other at. So for obvious reasons it was illegal. Very very illegal, not that anyone who went there cared.

Zeia had been introduced by one of the aristocrat boys she'd been courted by these last three years. He'd been trying to impress her with it, but he had only given her one more way to rebelled against her parents without them noticing.

She saved some of her spending money each month and bet it on the fighters. She had the uncanny ability to tell which were putting their all into the fight and those who were foolishly overconfident. It had served her well with telling who to put her money down on. Over the past two years or so she had made enough money to support a middle class family for five or six years without any of them working.

That is not to say she hadn't lost her fair share of cash to, but she won almost three times as often as she lost. Tonight she was planning on winning big.

The two fighters were a long time battler who called him self 'The Shiny Charizard' and a newbie fighter who was being called 'Schools Out'. The odds were 1:72 with Shiny Charizard the favorite, but Zeia had bet 500,000 Poké on the newbie.

The Shiny Charizard was a white man in his thirties. He was heavily muscled but had proven to be quite slow and easy to anger in past fights. She knew that he was easily to provoke into losing his cool, which always resulted in him attacking wildly in anger and tiring himself out. Not only did that make him an easy opponent to those who used strategy more than brute strength but it also meant that putting money on him was risky.

Schools Out was a very new fighter in the ring, and a woman at that. This meant that he was very overconfident in his win, so Charizard wasn't really going to try in this fight. Even thought he was trying to look intimidating every thing about him just made Zeia feel like he was going to be the loser in this fight. So she'd bet on the newbie instead.

Said newbie was stretching to prepare her for the oncoming fight. She was clearly limber, and the stats from her other fight said she was very swift and prone to taunting her prey. She was just the sort of opponent that Shiny Charizard had trouble with, and he wasn't even taking her seriously because she was a slender woman who probably couldn't beat him in an arm wrestle. Zeia rolled her eyes at the stupidity of men thinking that women couldn't fight.

She was going to enjoy this.

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As it turned out, yes, she did enjoy it.

Shiny Charizard had lunged at Schools Out the moment the fight had started, probably planning on finishing quickly. Schools Out had dodged him and started taunting him while kicking some of the dirt of the arena floor at him. Just like a Bouffalant or one of those Kanto Pokémon called a Tauros would act when a red flag is waved in front of them, Shiny Charizard had flipped out. The fight was over very swiftly then.

Schools Out had used her body as a fulcrum to flip him over and slam his head into the ground. She'd then kicked him in the groin before slamming his head repeatedly with her foot until he had dropped comatose to the ground. The crowd had watched in shock as the tiny scrap of a woman in a school girls outfit took down a professional wrestler in less than five minutes.

Seems there is something to be said for brains over brawn after all.

She collected her 36,000,000 Poké and left the building to drop it off in her privet bank account with a smirk on her face. It was time for dinner, and she'd be in trouble if she was late again.


	3. Running Away

A/N: To all of you who are upset because I didn't out right tell you lots about Zeia, there is a very good reason for that. Zeia is an aristocrat (A noble basically) she has learned to hide her emotions from others. You won't get to see how she really is for another couple of chapters. See, she wont act like herself around people she can't fully trust. So far that list is just her personal maid (You'll be introduced to her in this chapter) and Burgh. You get to really see what she is like as she faces the world during her Pokémon journey. So no, I'm not going to out right tell you every last detail of her life right just now. Wait just a little longer please?

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_**Hero's Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**_

_**In the Heart of an Empath.**_

**Chapter Two.**

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Zeia stood in front of her mirror staring. Her black hair, which was normally slightly curly and wavy, had been attacked by a maid with a straightening iron. Her normally sharp and elf like features had been softened by a ton of thick make-up, and her cool silver eyes had been surrounded by a soft eyeliner to make them look rounder.

What little curves she had were displayed by the skin tight top of her mermaid tail dress. It was a sky blue with small straps on her shoulders and a large blue glass jewel resting between her non existent cleavage. She preferred it that way thought. It was easier to dance without the extra weight breasts would mean.

She sized herself up in the mirror again.

They were trying to make her cute and friendly, but after having survived all her life by acting cool and arrogant Zeia wasn't quite capable of that anymore. Near a decade of dangerous politics had stripped away all the childish wonder for the world she had once had. Her belief that everything would go alright had been crushed under the weight of her grandmother's death.

She'd learned to be cold and cynical over the years. It showed on her face unless she was relaxed, but years of adapting to survive couldn't stop her from being the brash and self confident child she had once been every once and a while.

With a put out sigh she reluctantly trudged towards the dining room. It was going to take all her skill and cunning to get out of signing the marriage contract tonight. On her way there she heard people talking. Their voices where filled with the familiar tones of aristocrats doing business. That was something she'd heard almost every day of her life.

It was her father's voice that made her stop to eavesdrop. "She's still upset about not getting to go on one of those stupid journeys with one of those dumb beasts." His voice was filled with contempt and was coming from the formal parlor. _'He's complaining again.'_ She thought as she approached the open door to the parlor.

A quick peep around the corner showed Zeia who here parents were talking too. He was an older gentleman who appeared to be in his late thirties to early forties and was wearing a diesinker suit that probably cost more that a house in the residential district. He was sitting in a way that just screamed 'your all bugs and below me' to the world around him, and his eyes… those eyes were filled with a glint that could only come from a kind of innate cruelty.

Just looking at him made her skin crawl.

"I can train her out of those childish impulses easily. She'll soon understand that journeys are for those below her station as my future wife." He spoke to her parents in a careless manner as if speaking of her in such a way was not incredibly insulting, but it was what he said next that made her pissed. "She's still pure, is she not?" he asked.

At that point Zeia started to wonder if it was still murder if no one ever found the body.

"Of course she is!" Her father snapped angrily. The incredibly insulted look on his face amused Zeia. It's not like they were talking about his virginity and use as breeding stock after all. "I raised her better than that."

The man nodded as if he'd expected nothing less before sipping from a wine glass he picked up off the table. "The pictures of her were quite pleasing to me. It's a good thing she's pretty." He told her parents. "I would have hated to have to fuck an ugly woman for an heir." Her father just nodded along.

None of the men in the room noticed the flash of blue that was her striding angrily towards her bedroom. None of the men in the room were paying any attention to the only woman in the room either.

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'_I'm leaving; I'm just fucking leaving!'_ Zeia thought as she raced into her room. The purse with the mystery egg was gently placed on her bed. Her dress was swiftly and harshly ripped from her body. Makeup was furiously scrubbed off and her primped hair was tossed back in a hurried ponytail.

She didn't notice the door creak open.

"I would advise pants if you're sneaking out." A quiet feminine voice said.

Zeia turned around to see her mother leaning against her reclosed door. "You're not going to try and stop me?" she asked shyly.

"A long time ago," her mother said sadly, "there was a young girl named Rachel Mathews. She wanted to go on a Pokémon journey with all her heart, but she was upper class. She eventually realized that she would never get what she wanted in life and grew to hate the world she was raised in. She was told to marry a man by the name of Joshua Cooper, and since life had no more meaning to her she did. That was how Rachel Mathews became Rachel Cooper."

"And this effects me how Mother?" Zeia asked with a roll of her eyes. "I know why you married Dad."

Rachel sighed before shoving her dark brown hair out of her face. "One day Rachel Cooper had a little girl. She wanted to name her child Vona, which is Icelandic for hope, because she hoped she could be a better mother to her child than her mother had been to her. Her husband wanted to name her Zeia because he thought it sounded like a proper female's name. This is how Zeia Vona Cooper came into the world. Rachel tried to give her what Rachel herself had longed for as a child, but Joshua would forbid her and the marriage contract she signed would make her legally bound to obey him. Eventually Zeia went through much the same process of losing faith with the world that Rachel did."

"But _I'm_ going to do something about it." Zeia challenged.

"I can buy you ten minutes at the most." Rachel told her daughter with a said smile. "Best pack fast."

For the first time in ten years Zeia hugged her mother. If ether of their eyes were strangely wet after the hug well, nether one said a thing.

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"Where is Zeia?" Joshua Cooper asked his wife when she entered the dining room. He was sitting near Richard Gaunt, the man who had been in the parlor earlier.

Taking a deep breath Rachel squared her shoulders and put on her best hostess face. "She spilled some eyeliner on her dress and has to change. She'll be down in fifteen minutes or so."

"Typical women," Gaunt mocked. "They take hours to change one simple dress. I could have that off of her in two minutes on our wedding night."

Rachel ignored the two men laughing like boars and delicately seated herself at the table. Hopefully Zeia would get out before one of the two went looking for her.

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Zeia was packing. Well, really she was stuck in the closet trying to grab a cotton blanket to take with her. She let out a startled yelp as an amused voice spoke behind her. "You'll catch death in cotton m'lady." Backing out of the linen closet holding her now sore head Zeia glared at the woman who'd spoken. Iza, Zeia's personal maid, was looking far to amused at the still in her panties aristocrat.

"I will pack for you while you put on something a little warmer." The maid said cheerfully. Glancing down at her underwear Zeia decided that maybe some more clothing would be a good Idea after all. It was freezing in her room anyways.

In the end she settled for wearing some black yoga pants and a black turtleneck sweater. 'Sneaking out would be harder in a dress.' Zeia thought as she pulled on wool socks. Iza bustled over and placed her runners next to her.

"You'll need to buy a pair of hiking boots as soon as possible." The maid warned her mistress. "You're also going to need non perishable food for you and your Pokémon." She was folding three woolen blankets into a single shoulder backpack she had found somewhere.

"How does all that even fit?" Zeia muttered as she dug through her undergarment drawer for her extra cash. She pulled three bra and panty sets while she was at it. _'Never know when you'll need clean undies,'_ she thought.

Iza pulled the sets right out of Zeia's hands and put them in a side compartment. "It's got a compression field on the inside." She explained cheerfully. "Just like a Pokéball, the object is made smaller when it enters the bag. You can have the battery refilled for free at any Pokécenter if you just ask nurse Joy."

"Did you pack my tea?" Zeia asked her maid as she tugged open her closet. She had been ordered by a doctor to drink a special kind of tea to stop the migraines she used to get. One cup in the morning each day and another if her head started to hurt. "I wouldn't want to lose a battle because I got a splitting headache."

Since her back was turned Zeia missed the darkening of her maid's normally sweet face. The woman shook her brown hair slightly in front of her face to hide the expression. "No, I did not."

"Well you should." Zeia told her. "I might need it."

Iza glared at the tea pot sitting beside Zeia's bed from the morning. "Do you wish to be your own person?" she asked. "To throw off all your parents decisions for your life and make your own choices?" Zeia nodded in between flicking through her cloths. "The tea is a suppressor. It stops you from being who you should my lady."

"What? Like a mood suppresser?" Zeia yelped in shock. Iza nodded solemnly. "Doesn't seem to work very well…" she muttered.

"I've been slowly lowering the dosage for the last two years and diluting it with more water." Iza pulled out some cloths and started packing again with a hurried glance at the clock. "What will you carry the egg in?"

Glancing through the stuff around her Zeia realized she couldn't just carry t in her arms or purse. Her old sling caught her attention.

Zeia had been walking in the city when a sailor had rushed by. They had both been on the same set of stairs heading in opposite directions so when the sailor knocked into her Zeia had fallen down the stairs and broken her arm. The doctor had given her a black linen sling to put her cast in. Her parents had used the fall and the abnormally long time it had taken her bone to heal as proof she was fragile and shouldn't leave the house without an escort.

Zeia had been less than impressed with that. It had become her mission whenever she left her house to lose her escorts as soon as possible after that. She'd gotten very good at it, and the escorts had gotten very good at pretending they had never lost her in the first place. Their job paid to good to lose it because a rebellouse teen kept sneeking out, and besides, what Mr. Cooper didn't know probably wouldn't kill him.

Laying the egg in it and slipping it over her head she noticed that the egg ended up just under her breasts. She remembered how her arm had always seemed too warm when it was in the sling, so Zeia decided that the egg would be warm enough in there.

"I've packed all I could." Iza said from behind her. "You'll have to leave now before our time is up. Go to the pub called the 'Mermaid's Delight' near the last pier and find my brother Alex. He'll take you to the Pokémon lab in Nuvema Town to get your Trainer's license."

The backpack was thrown over Zeia's shoulder before Iza rushed down to the kitchens. She pushed Zeia out of the back door to where an alley opened up. "Go now!" she told her. "and please be safe." The slamming of the door behind Iza signaled the end of her old life, and the beginning of a new adventure.

Walking towards the piers Zeia smiled softly. "Watch out world, here I come!"


	4. Twists and Truths

A/N: For all of you who are wondering what is in Zeia's backpack, you'll find out in a couple of chapters when Zeia digs through it. Also, the people who guess what kind of Pokémon is in Zeia's egg get a shout out and virtual cookies. You have until the chapter where she sees what comes out of the egg to put in a guess, and I accept PM's and guest reviews too. And go read lyunzlu's story Heroes Born and Made: Hope's Story. Eventually her protagonist (Main Character) will meet up with mine. We're Co Authoring that part, so you'll get to read from both girls perspectives! And please REVIEW! I breath reviews!

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_**Hero's Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**_

_**In the Heart of an Empath.**_

**Chapter Three.**

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Walking down the streets to the Mermaid's Delight was a new experience to Zeia.

Whenever she went out after turning ten her parents had had her followed. She'd become used to feeling watched and feeling jumpy after shaking off her guards. The quiet fear that they might find her doing something she didn't want her parents to know about had always made her act slightly paranoid after escaping her guards.

She was never unsupervised anyway. The elder town's people had always seemed to pay a strange amount of attention to her. They always acted as if she was a princess of something, but they always said she was too young to understand why. She'd learned not to push the matter. They would attract the attention of her guards if she did.

Since she was dressed like any of the poor to middle class teens who wandered the streets after dinner time no one paid her a second look. She blended in near perfectly. There were no guards to shake or elders calling out to her or people pretending not to stare at her; it was just like when she was a child.

She used to wander the streets after bedtime as a child dressed in a hand knitted coat she'd made. The clumsy knitting made most assume she was homeless, so most had ignored her, and her parents never checked in on her. That meant she only had to be home before Iza arrived at four in the morning. She'd wandered the town without a care in the world until she made it to her secret base inside an abandoned warehouse.

The land the abandoned ware house was on would become hers once she reached 18 according to her grandmother's will, so it wasn't like she was trespassing or doing anything wrong.

As a child she had just needed a place with no other people to go and dance her heart out. That ware house had been her sanctuary. Her heart had a pang of grief when she realized she wouldn't be able to go there while on her journey. She was leaving everything she had ever known here. She was going in alone to a big dangerous world she knew only the basics about.

It felt like she was throwing herself to a pit full of hungry Hydreigons.

There would be no secret base to hide in if things got too tough out there. There would be no elderly folk to stop and have tea with when she needed advice. There would be no running the streets avoiding the gangs and homeless or visiting the underground fighting ring.

Everything was changing faster than it ever had before. Zeia wasn't sure if she was ready for it.

xXxXxXxXx

"How long does it take a bitch to change?" Richard Gaunt, who was going to be Zeia's husband once she signed the contract, roared in frustration. He glared at Rachel, Zeia's mother, as he did so. In the back of her head Rachel pondered how they would react to her stabbibg a steak knife through one of their hands. Pity she had such good self control.

Zeia's father Joshua Cooper stood up and gestured for Richard to do the same. "She's probably trying to stall the signing." He told Gaunt. "Let us simply go get her."

"If the chit doesn't sign willingly I'll just make her," Gaunt told Joshua angrily before storming off towards the east wing of the manor where all the bedrooms were in a huff. Both of the Coopers rushed after him Joshua with a similar look of rage over Zeia's lateness and Rachel with worry on her face as they raced up the stairs.

'_Please let her be gone Arceus. I want my baby safe.'_

The angry shout when the men found Zeia's room looking ransacked and a rope made out of cotton blankets tied together hanging out of the window brought a slight smile to her face. _'Iza must be very good at faking unassisted runaways,' _she thought._ 'Now all I have to do is act well enough to throw suspicion off myself. Well then, it's time to put on a show!'_

xXxXxXxXx

"Are you Mr. Alex Mathews?" Zeia asked the sailor with very similar facial features to Iza. She ignored the funny feeling that always came to her when she thought of Iza and her mother sharing a last name. _'Besides,' _she thought to her self,_ 'Mathews is a really common last name in Unova. There are three aristocratic house holds that claim it so there is probably tons of working class that use it too.'_

The sailor stood up with a nod and gestured to her backpack. "Finally going on your journey Miss Zeia?"

Shooting him a shy smile she nodded. "Yes, I am. Iza said you'd take me to Unova."

"That me and my partner can do." Alex assured her with a smile. The girl looked like a skittish Deerling as she followed him out of the bar. A practiced flick of his wrist let his partner Swanna out of her Pokéball. She stretched her wings and neck before turning to look at him.

"She's beautiful," Zeia whispered in awe as the Swanna turned to look at her. "I've never seen such a large Pokémon this close up." While she was distracted Alex used his Pokégear to send a message to Iza. Zeia didn't notice him doing it.

"Shall we get going then?" He asked as he mounted the Swanna's back. Zeia nodded before carefully climbing aboard the large Pokémon. When she was on she wrapped her arms around Alex's waist. _'Wouldn't do to fall off midflight and die.'_ She pondered and held on. The mystery egg rested comfortably between them.

With a sudden thrust the Swanna took off into the air. So began the hour long flight to her new life. Zeia felt they were flying away from every thing she'd been chained to and into a new dawn. The sun setting around them somehow added to that feeling. Unconsciously her fingers stroked over the egg.

She fought back a yawn.

xXxXxXxXx

Rachel Cooper dropped exhausted onto her bed. The search for Zeia had lasted two whole hours before the men folk had called the police into it. Officer Maxwell, who was in her husbands pocket, had agreed to bring her home by force if need. Richard had told them that if Zeia didn't sign it willingly he'd just force her. Joshua had said there was nothing wrong with that.

She'd never been tempted harder then that moment.

"If you kill him you can't help her." A familiar voice warned the lady of the house. Iza was leaning on the doorway watching Rachel stroke the ring on her pointer finger. "What kind of poison is it anyway?"

Rachel stared at herself in the mirror. Her once rich brown hair was frizzing and she had heavy black bags just barely concealed with cover-up under her eyes. Her green eyes were dull and seemed less vibrant than normal. She glanced at the ring.

"Mother gave the ring to me." The lady explained. "It is full of concentrated poison from a Jellicent female who was in heat. It will eat through the intestinal lining of any living being but a steel type and make their entire body go septic in half an hour. After that they die slowly and incurably in great agony for hours afterwards."

"Mother always was one to strike back cruelly to those who hurt her family." Iza added as she came to stand beside Rachel's bed. "It's more liquid torture than poison." Being nearly side by side one could see the similarities between the two. Both were regal looking and slim with dark brown hair and almond shaped green eyes. Rachel had a rounded more feminine face while Iza looked almost as elf like as Zeia did.

Rachel glanced at the younger woman for a second before flopping back into her pillows. "How is my baby, half sister?" She asked with worry evident in her tone.

"She found Alex and they left eight minutes before Cooper and Gaunt realized she was gone." Iza told her elder sister softly. "They'll arrive at Nuvema Town in an hour of so if the wind holds."

In tandem the two sisters glanced at the window across the room. Outside they could just see the body of Officer Jenny slip past the house and into a nearby coffee shop. Rachel sat up and started getting ready to leave.

"Our Co-collaborator is here." she muttered as she slid her jacket on. "Shall we meet her?"

xXxXxXxXx

Alex couldn't help but smile as he felt the girl behind him slump in sleep. He knew she wasn't used to the emotional rollercoaster she'd been on that day, and it had tired the little dancer out. He couldn't help but remember when he'd first seen his half sister's daughter dance.

She'd been an immensely adorable seven year old who even then had appeared otherworldly. He couldn't help but chuckle at that. Considering what she was, even if it had been suppressed since she was ten, the inhuman beauty made sense.

She'd been even cuter in the fluffy white dress meant to make her look like a Cottonee for that years summer festival's annual play. She'd looked like she was floating as she danced across the stage, and Alex had wanted to beam like the proud uncle he secretly was. Joshua had been startled because he hadn't known his daughter could dance. Rachel had just quietly arranged formal lessons in different styles for Zeia to learn formal and proper dancing.

She'd always looked magical when dancing to the music in her head rather than a waltz or ballet. She had still easily won every dancing competition she'd ever been in.

The feeling of the egg against his back reminded him exactly what was at stake here. He urged his Swanna to go faster as the sun neared fully set. It wouldn't take more than a day or two for someone to connect the fact that Zeia had a Pokémon egg with the timing of her running away. Then Nuvema would be their first stop. Hopefully Zeia would be far away by the time the search team got there.

xXxXxXxXx


	5. A Tale as Old as Time

A/N: So, two tagday weekends and one FTX later… basically cadets has kept me really busy. If the plot line so far has confused someone, just ask me. I'll answer your questions at the start of every chapter.

**xXxXxXxXx**

_**Hero's Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**_

_**In the Heart of an Empath.**_

**Chapter Four.**

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia slept through the entire hour long flight. In fact, she slept through the landing as well. Glancing at her clearly exhausted face, Alex chose not to wake his niece up. She deserved some rest after finally breaking free of her parents grasp after all.

"You should eat more," Alex told the sleeping aristocrat as lifted her off the Swanna's back. His Swanna was returned to her Pokéball with a flash of red light, and he set off for Professor Juniper's lab with Zeia cradled in his arms. The egg lay cradled against her stomach and between her arms as they walked forwards.

When Alex got to the door he encountered an unforeseen problem. He didn't have any free hand while carrying Zeia, so how could he knock? Maybe he should kick it? Luckily a strange young blond came to his rescue.

"Are you looking for the Professor?" She asked him. Alex took a minute to study her before responding. She had fluffy blond hair and a big green hat on her head. Her face was also framed with red glasses. Over all he thought she looked around eighteen or nineteen.

He glanced back at the sky before speaking. How long did they have until police started looking for Zeia? "Yes I am." He told the blond. "It is very important." Alex hoped that the urgency in his voice would convey how important this matter was.

The blond glanced at him apologetically. "Professor Juniper is away visiting her father and will not be back for two days. You'll have to wait until then." Alex could feel his teeth grinding. They'd definitely be caught if they stayed near here for two whole days!

"Please, you have to understand!" he begged her. The desperation in his voice was palpable. "This is a matter of the lady's life or death, her freedom or imprisonment, you have to help us!" His deep blue eyes seemed to burn into the blonds mind. "She'll never be allowed to go on her journey if they catch us!"

A moment passed, and a life time.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Bianca remembered a girl. A clumsy girl with overprotective parents who'd practically ran away to see the world with her Pokémon. She remembered the joy and the excitement that her journey had brought, but most of all she remembered the freedom.

She'd felt oppressed at home. Practically smothered by her worried parents, she'd never gotten to be free until she left. Even after leaving it took Elesa's intervention to convince her father to let her go on rather than home. She knew without a doubt that she would have withered away and died on the inside had she been forced to return home.

The delicate black haired girl in the sailor's arms reminded her of herself, and that was why she had to help them.

A moment passed, and a life time. Bianca made her decision.

**xXxXxXxXx**

"You can stay at our house until she gets back." The blond offered with a hesitant smile. "I'm Bianca, Professor Juniper's assistant, by the way."

Alex nodded in thanks to Bianca. "I'm Alex Mathews and this is my niece Zeia Cooper." After the introductions were done, Bianca started leading them across the small town. They ended up in front of a large cream house with a navy roof.

"This is my place. My friend Cheren and some other friends also live here." She gestured at the door before opening it for him. "There should be five of us living here, but three of them are off elsewhere this week, so you should only run into Cheren and me."

She led Alex, who was still carrying Zeia, to a bedroom. "This is the guest room." She told him. "We only have one, but you can have the couch." Eventually the two of them got the sleeping girl settled under the covers of the guest bed and her stuff settled at the foot of the bed. After that Bianca led Alex to the living room.

There was a black haired young man with glasses sitting on the couch. Bianca introduced him as Cheren to Alex.

"Alex and his niece Zeia are staying with us until Juniper comes back." She told Cheren. He went to ask a question, probably why they couldn't go to the nearest city and stay at a hotel, but she interrupted him. There was a hint pained remembrance and desperation when she spoke next. "She's forbidden to go on a journey, Cheren. Running away like this is her only chance. If the police catch her she'll be brought home and held under lock and key. We _have to_ help!"

For a second Alex saw them glancing at each other. It was clear that they were speaking nonverbally, something only friends who truly knew one another could do. These two were that close.

"They can't get into the house without a warrant, and they won't have one because they won't know she is here." Cheren told the room at large. "Everyone deserves a chance to go on their Pokémon journey, so let's give her a fighting chance." The smile on Bianca's face was blinding.

**xXxXxXxXx**

In the end they all sat down for tea. Zeia was dead to the world in the guest room and Bianca wanted to know more about her.

"Well," Alex started, "It all comes down a race that lived along side humans and Pokémon thousands of years ago. They were far closer connected to Pokémon than any human could be and they lived longer than us too."

"You mean the elves, right?" Cheren queried as he picked up his tea cup. Alex nodded.

Bianca glanced between the two men before racking her brain. She knew she'd heard of the elves, but she could not remember where. It was like trying to remember the name of a song you'd heard in you childhood. It sat on the tip of your tongue but never came out. Shone in the center of your mind then wiggled away when you tried to retrieve the information. Bianca's eyes narrowed. She could almost remember… a melody?

Alex leaned forwards as he started explaining in earnest. "They were a different kind of person, another race if you will. They could speak to Pokémon, and were better connected to the earth than humans were. It was them who supposedly taught humans and Pokémon to work together rather than fight."

"Why aren't they around now? What happened to them?" Bianca asked him.

A somber look filled Alex's face as he spoke next. "There was a great war between elves and humans over a misunderstanding. The stories say that all the elves died on that battlefield, and that later it sunk underground so that no one could take the elves bodies from the earth and misuse them." He saw Bianca open her mouth again and held up his hand to stop her. "The elves blood could be used to give strange and wonderful powers to those whose mother ingested it while they were in the womb. By now we know that it was their powerful blood bonding with the infant and giving it elf like qualities, but back then it seemed like the blood was magical."

"People would have killed to have a child born with 'magical' powers in their family." Cheren added. "They would have said it was proof of being chosen by whatever legendary they worshiped. It would have meant great status and wealth to them."

Something just kept nagging in the back of Bianca's head. She was so sure they were missing something. "What sort of powers?" she asked distractedly. Nether of the males noticed that she wasn't all there.

"You ended up with a huge range of different powers." Alex told her. "Your kid could be gifted in the mental arts: they could be an empath, a clairvoyant, read minds, see the future, move things with their minds, or see people's auras. They could be physically gifted as well: being able to jump to and from insane heights, run super fast, have amazing stamina, be incredibly fast, be very graceful, be unusually stealthy on their feet, and be very flexible. Some were said to play and sing better than gods and others were so beautiful they were hailed _as_ gods."

Cheren spoke up next. "If just gaining a bit of genetic material from ingested blood did all that, then what if they cross bred with humans? Would their gifts be stronger?"

"Immensely so," Alex informed him. "Not only were they more powerful, but the mixed blood children could often have several of those abilities at once. They also aged slower than your average human did, but not by a much as the elves were said to."

"The old tales say it was like time forgot to take the elves." Cheren said. He totally missed the sudden light that lit up Bianca's eyes at that.

"'For those who time has forgotten!'" She squealed excitedly. The blond jumped up and pulled a confused Cheren into a dizzying dance across the living room. "That's it! That is what I was trying to remember!"

"Um, Bianca?" Cheren asked hesitantly as the girl spun away from him. "What does that have to do with _anything_ we've just been talking about?"

"There is this old nursery rhyme my mother used to sing while we were gardening. It's called the 'Banned Ballad' and it reminds me of all that Alex has just said!" Bianca dropped into her chair while shooting both guys an elated grin.

Alex blinked at her in shock for a moment before grinning back. "Can you sing it for us?"

Bianca thought it over for a second before nodding. When she opened her mouth and started singing. The tune she used seemed very light at fist, almost like a children's song, the lyrics most certainly were not from one, though.

"Ding, dong, goes the bell  
we've made a great mistake.  
Ding, dong, goes the bell  
we did not ask but take.

Tick, tock, goes the clock  
for those who time has forgotten.  
Tick, tock, goes the clock  
their corpses are never rotten.  
Tick, tock, goes the clock  
for those close to the mother.  
Tick, tock, goes the clock  
for those who are of other."

Cheren was thrown. He'd had no idea that Bianca could hum a tune accurately, much less sing one. Alex, meanwhile, was pondering why the 'Banned Ballad' seemed so familiar. Surly he would know if he'd heard it before? Bianca just kept singing. The song was a ballad after all, and that means it tells a tale. You couldn't tell a full story in a song that only took a minute to sing.

"Ding, dong, goes the bell  
a funeral for a people.  
Ding, dong, goes the bell  
under church and steeple.

Slish, slosh, goes the rain  
over that field of hell.  
Slish, slosh, goes the rain  
in that battle many fell.  
Slish, slosh, goes the rain  
and in the earth they were lain.  
Slish, slosh, goes the rain  
they were never seen again.

Ding, dong, goes the bell  
to mourn all that has been lost.  
Ding, dong, goes the bell.  
**We won, but at what cost?**"

There was a leading kind of silence in the room when Bianca was done. The last line of the song was haunting, and somehow incomplete.

"There should be more." Bianca shyly admitted. "I just can't remember it right now."

Cheren smiled at her while he and Alex watched her sit back down. It was an incredibly long song already, nether of the boys were really that startled that she didn't know the whole thing. "Do you know anyone who would know the ending?" Cheren inquired.

Bianca shook her head. "No," she admitted, "my mother is away for a holiday and I never heard anyone sing it. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Alex told her. His voice was soft and understanding. "I know I've heard it somewhere, but I just _can't_ remember where." They shared a moment of mutual annoyance before Bianca turned away and poured them all more tea.

"We will just have to hope one of us remembers it later." Bianca said.

**xXxXxXxXx**

In a far away city by an ancient harbor many different groups and people plotted. A father, a cruel man, and a crooked officer plotted how to catch the heiress to a vast fortune on both sides of her family. A mother, an aunt, and an honest cop plotted to help the heiress. A group thought long defeated planned to use the upper class being distracted to take over. A small Pokémon plotted to run off and search out a pale girl to return a brooch to the one who didn't have to help, but did.

Castalia plotted, but the child so involved in all of it sleep peacefully on unaware of what brewed around her. A child slept on, and slowly a poison was eradicated from her system. The clock is ticking, the egg is rocking, and a young girl is almost ready to be forged into the hero Unova so despritly needs.


	6. Wake Up Sunshine!

A/N: So, my computer is dead. I can only update what I can type at school, and I have two stories to split my time between. Updates are going to be _**very**_ slow now. I'm sorry, but it will take me almost a year to earn enough to buy myself a laptop (mainly because I have too much stuff to do and can't fit in part time work, so I can only get odd jobs), unless I find a job with hours I can work with or people willing to buy my knitting.

Until I get one I can't guarantee that I will a computer available to type on often enough to update. Don't get me wrong, I will try, but things are going to be very uncertain for a while, and I am so sorry for that.

The hard drive of our computer is from 2000, so the fact that it's dying is only slightly shocking, but we thought we would still have a year or two of time. That's real life for you though, bites you in the ass when you least expect it.

**xXxXxXxXx**

**Heroes Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**

**In The Heart of an Empath.**

**Chapter Five.**

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia awoke with the strangely comfortable feeling of something hard and warm pressed against her chest. The sleepy teen snuggled against the bed for a moment, refusing to awaken. A blurry glance down showed her the dark shape of her mystery egg, which she had been cuddling in her sleep. It took a moment for her to realize the problem with this scene.

The lack of running away is the problem.

Getting up and glancing about, Zeia decided that the change of scenery was fine. She couldn't see a single city building or pier from her window, so clearly they were outside of Castelia. She carefully pulled the sling off her head and laid the egg between the pillows so it couldn't roll away. Her backpack was in a corner, so she went to that.

Digging through the small compartment on the front resulted in finding her money and some common medicines. There were also some books she knew she didn't own about Pokémon and finding natural foods or surviving. Zeia mentally dubbed this pouch the center pouch and made a note that it had all her emergency stuff in it.

The main pouch of the backpack had the wool blankets: one black, one gray, and one that was camo print. It also had two thick ropes and a pack of bungee cords. She pulled a sealed plastic container out to find it water proof and full of fire starting things. There was also a strange black Pokéball with a sticky note on it. The note said was a luxury ball.

At this point she had to sit back and stare at the backpack in confusion. _'This was way too well stocked.'_ Zeia pondered as she stared at the bag._ 'Iza had to be planning this for a while, to have pre-packed most of the bag for me.'_

She wasn't sure if that made her feel supported for manipulated into running off just yet.

The side pouch on the left was empty, but she found her cloths in the right side pouch. First thing she did was change into a plain black cotton bra and panty set. The ones she'd been wearing were too lacey to feel anything but itchy when worn.

Next up was putting on a pair of grey yoga pants and a simple purple shirt. Her toiletries, which she had found in with her cloths in a see through zip up bag, were pulled out and used in the connecting bathroom. Her hair was starting to go from its forced striating back to its normal waviness. Basically it was frizzing up like it was a rainy day. Zeia simply stuck it up in a ponytail.

A minute later she was glad she was dressed as a young man stuck his head in to check on her. "She's up!" the guy declared before turning to look at the slightly flustered Zeia. She tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

After all, it's not every day one of your role models pops into the room you randomly woke up in.

"Umm…" Zeia drew out slowly. A delicate flush shimmered across her face when Cheren drew a single eyebrow up at her in response. "Would you mind telling me where I am, Mr. Cheren?"

Correctly deducing why she was so embarrassed Cheren smiled at his house guest. "You are at the house my friends and I share." He was amused by her hesitance. Who would have thought the girl they were helping out would be a fan of theirs? Zeia blinked in confusion up at him. "You're in here because the professor isn't back yet." Cheren kept explaining.

At this point the girl started to hyperventilate. A rolling wave of panic overwhelmed her at the thought of being caught. She couldn't go home, she just couldn't!

In an instant there were cool hands pressed against her checks and a soft male voice whispering in her ears. "You're safe here, Zeia Cooper." The male voice told her. "We are going to help you escape. You are going to be free."

'Safe harbor,' Zeia thought softly. 'They are offering me safe harbor.' She took a deep breath and tore herself away from the clogging panic, separating it from the rest of her mind by an invisible wall.

Zeia returned to the real world surrounded by voices. "It's the suppressant." She heard Alex say. "Her emotions are more powerful, and so more consuming and hard to fight off now that the suppressant is draining from her system."

Groggily opening her eyes told the young aristocrat that Cheren and a blond she knew would be Bianca were there as well. A second later the blond spoke and Zeia was proven correct. "She's waking up! Ohh… look at her Cheren! Isn't that swell?"

"What the heck is swell?" Zeia muttered as she stood up. They had moved her back to the bed, which Zeia appreciated, and Cheren appears to have caught her because she couldn't feel any pain.

Cheren laughed softly at the grumpy girl. "Swell as in great or awesome, not as in to swell or bulge."

The adults, having decided that Zeia was fine, left the room to let her freshen up again. After splashing her face with water she headed out of the room.

That ended her up in a hallway. It was long and oddly enough painted robin egg blue. Zeia wandered down until she found the kitchen. Alex and Cheren were sitting around an in kitchen island while Bianca cooked.

That wasn't what froze her.

Alex was recording what Bianca was singing as Cheren hurriedly scribbled it down. The note-book he was using had 'confidential' written on the front.

That also wasn't what froze her. It was the _song_.

How many times had she heard that song as a child? The haunting notes had slipped from her grandmother's mouth like water over stones in a brook. Those notes had woven themselves into every crook and cranny of her childhood. Her grandmother had worked her until clasping to learn that song off by heart.

It was part of their history, her grand mother had said. Part of her past, and part of her future.

It was the first song Zeia had learned to dance to.

As the words 'We won, but at what cost?' she stepped fully into the kitchen, opened her mouth, and sang her heart out.

Everyone else froze.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Cliffhanger! Yall can hate me later!

And review, because the review monster is hungry.


	7. One Cop Too Many

A/N: Another chapter! I just hope you all like it! And just a warning, the compation to see who can guess what is in the egg (Watson can't guess since she already knows) ends when the egg hatches. That will be in two or three more chapters, so guess now. I accept guesses by PM and Review!

**xXxXxXxXx**

**Heroes Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**

**In The Heart of an Empath.**

**Chapter Six.**

**xXxXxXxXx**

In the instant Bianca finished the part of the song she knew both boys prepared to stop recording it. They never expected Zeia to step out of the shadows like a ghost and pick up the lyrics where Bianca left off. They never expected the message hidden in the rest of the song either.

Zeia stepped into the light of the kitchen, opened her mouth, and sang her heart out.

"_Pitter, patter, goes the clatter  
of young feet on the floor.  
Pitter, patter, goes the clatter  
of the child born of more.  
Pitter, patter, goes the clatter  
of those their lovers bore.  
Pitter, patter, goes the clatter  
of those decedents of lore._

_Ding, dong, goes the bell  
it celebrates this day.  
Ding, dong, goes the bell  
__**because nature found a way."**_

The room was frozen for one breathless second.

Zeia blinked and the spell was broken.

"Where do you learn that?!" Cheren asked, leaning forward to stare at Zeia as he did. He shook his hand out as it cramped. He had, after all, written out an entire ballad at the speed the two girls had sung it.

Zeia stared right back at Cheren calmly. "Grandmamma taught it to me when I was little." She admitted softly. "She said that was the history of our family, and that it was my duty to remember _the 'Banned Ballad'_ and pass it along until it was time."

Alex frowned for a moment before smoothing out his face. 'Mother never said anything about a ballad…' he pondered. 'Did she know what Zeia is all along? Did she plan this?'

Zeia smiled softly as she was bombarded with pleas for the whole ballad to be sung again. Both Cheren and Bianca seemed quite eager to have a written copy or memorize the lyrics. Zeia laughed before pulling over Cheren's notebook.

"Here," she said, "I'll write it out for you guys. Bianca can memorize the written notes so I don't have to sing it."

Alex glanced up and came to a decision. It didn't matter how their mother might have played them or lied to them about her foreknowledge. All that mattered now was keeping Zeia safe.

If only that goal was a little easier.

**xXxXxXxXx**

It all started with a knock at the door. A simple, innocent knock on a normal basic white painted door that no one may have been expecting, but was not strange or unusual either. It didn't stay that way for long.

Bianca opened the door to a man dressed in blue. Zeia didn't think she just reacted. In a second she had ducked under the table and rolled over to the living room. Another two seconds or so and she had scrambled behind the couch.

"Hello?" Bianca said nervously. "Can I help you?"

The police officer smiled falsely at Bianca. "We are looking for a runaway young lady. May we come in?"

"No." Cheren said coldly from behind Bianca. "You come into our house at meal time and expect us to take out for you? I don't have to let you in without a warrant." Cheren stepped past Bianca and glared down his noise at the officer. Considering the officer was taller than him, it was quite the feat.

The officer stepped backwards a step before visibly squaring his shoulders. "We are looking for a young lady with pale skin and long Black hair. Her eyes are a strange shade of Silver and she is most likely wearing a fancy blue evening gown." He puffed up his chest in an attempt to look more important.

Bianca put her hands on her hips and frowned at the police man. "We've been home since yesterday morning and haven't left. No one except you has come knocking." She glared heatedly at him. "Can't I get one day alone with my man?"

The police officer blushed and backed off slightly. "Ahh… tell us if you see her, okay. Her parents are worried."

Bianca flipped her hair slightly and glared at the officer some more before slamming the door shut. She froze for several seconds after that.

"Bianca?" Cheren asked hesitantly. He crept towards her and gently touched her arm. She promptly exploded with laughter.

"Did you see his face!?" She squealed as she sank to the floor. "It was hilarious!"

Cheren blinked slowly at the hysterical blonde. "You called me your man…" He flushed as he stared at her.

Bianca blinked dumbly for a moment before flushing a deep red. "I was just trying to embarrass him and make him leave. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"I didn't mind." Cheren admitted. His face was going pink.

Zeia huffed and squirmed out from behind the couch. It was almost like Cheren and Bianca's embarrassment was radiating off of them, because now she was embarrassed too.

"What will happen if he comes back with a legal warrant?" She asked softly.

Bianca smiled up at her. "Professor Juniper will be back tonight, so we can visit her early tomorrow morning. You can get your Pokédex and trainer ID then."

"should I really get an ID?" Zeia pondered out loud. "Couldn't my parents track me down with it?"

"Nah," Bainca shook her head. "Only members of the Pokémon league and the professor who handed out the ID are allowed to let other people know what the ID number of a trainer is. You'll be safe."

Zeia nodded before getting up. She had left the egg in the bed room she had awakened in, and she felt cold without by her side. The other three people in the room headed off to the kitchen. Nothing could happen until Juniper had given Zeia the Pokédex anyway.


	8. Debts and Starting Out

A/N:Guys, this is the second to last chapter to egg what is in the egg. Hints are littered through the story. Take the colors I described the egg as in past chapters (chapter 2, Life of a lady). What Pokémon could be that coloring? Come on guys, guess! There is another really obvious clue, but I'm not going to point out what is right beneath your noses. You can PM me if you don't want to review the answear for everyone to see.

**xXxXxXxXx**

**Heroes Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**

**In The Heart of an Empath.**

**Chapter Seven.**

**xXxXxXxXx**

A small red and black being raced through the halls of a strange building. It came skidding to a halt at a young man's feet. Fingers slid around the fox like Pokémon and a soft smile was shown to it.

"What's this?" The owner of the soft smile questioned. His fingers touched a ribbon held around the Pokémon's paw. They rubbed over the silver and emerald pin and green eyes widened. The pin was clearly well made and worth a large sum of money. The human frowned. "Where did you get this?"

The Pokémon mewled and squirmed around, but the human seemed to understand. "Well, then you should thank her if you ever meet her again." The human told his black furred Pokémon. "She seems nice enough." He moved to say something else, but the Pokémon wiggled out of his hands and raced away.

Male arms wrapped around the torso of the green haired boy from behind. "Are you okay?" the mystery male asked his companion.

"Yes. He's just doing what he feels is right to repay the debt he owes his savior." The first male explained softly. "He'll come back. Eventually."

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia woke up in the morning expecting to see the blue walls of her bedroom for a second. Of course then her memories of the last couple of days returned and she knew she was in Cheren and Bianca's guest bedroom. In a couple of minutes she had changed into clean cloths and meandered into the kitchen. The egg was gently settled in her old sling and hanging against her chest.

"We'll go see the Professor as soon as we're done brekkie, 'Kay?" Bianca said cheerfully as she laid a plate with scrambled eggs and bacon on it. Her blond hair was clipped out of her face and the woman seemed quite cheery. Zeia couldn't help but roll her eyes. 'Oh great,' she thought. 'A morning person.'

Alex wandered into the kitchen next, and headed over to the counter. He returned a minute later to place a cup of coffee beside Zeia. She would have been creeped out that he knew she needed coffee to wake up, but he was Iza's brother and Zeia didn't doubt that her family's servants gossiped to their families when they got home at night. Besides, giving Zeia coffee in the morning was a well known way to avoid getting your head bit off.

Cheren popped into the room just in time to watch Zeia adding the sugar and cream to her coffee. "Do you want coffee with your sugar?" he asked with a grin as he accepted the glass of juice Bianca offered him.

Breakfast passed swiftly after that.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Standing on the doorstep of Professor Juniper's lab later brought Zeia to a halt. She knew if she took one step into the building there would be no turning back. A second later she laughed at herself. Here she was, standing outside a Pokémon lab dressed in jogging gear and runners to head out on the road with a fully stocked backpack on her pack and a Pokémon egg. She'd made her choice along time ago.

With that in mind, Zeia popped open the door and walked right into Juniper's laboratory. The Professor was typing away at a computer when Zeia and the group entered. She looked up and smiled at them.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she politely asked as she got up to greet them.

Cheren pushed Zeia forward slightly. "She needs a Pokétrainer licence and a badge case," he told the Professor. The woman looked over Zeia for a second before noticing the egg held against her.

"No need for a starter if you've got that!" Juniper cheerfully bounced over to the computer and started pulling up a window. "I'll need you name, birth, sex, town of origin, and a picture."

Zeia settled on the chair beside the Professor to answer her questions. "I'm Zeia Cooper or Castelia City. I'm sixteen years old and was born on the night of may first. You can take a picture with a webcam."

Eventually they got the licence made, printed onto a special plastic card, and signed by Zeia. She shoved the card into her pocket with the black and silver badge case she had also been given. "My parents aren't going to find out about this, are they?" The worry on her face was clearly visible as she asked.

Juniper shook her head as she escorted Zeia and the rest to the end of the town for their goodbyes. When she hugged Alex she thanked him for helping her. "Ain't nothin to it, little lady." He assured her. "You take care now."

After that she hugged Cheren and Bianca. "Don't give up," was the advice Bianca gave. "So long as you keep trying nothing else matters."

They all waved her goodbye as Zeia set out on the route before her. No one spoke until she turned a corner and was out of sight.

"Legendaries have mercy on her parents souls next time they meet." Alex murmured.

Bianca blinked slowly. "Why?"

It was Cheren who chose to speak next. "What she's got in that egg is not going to like them trying to push her around." He shrugged as he continued. "I dare say they'll learn soon enough that she's outside her parents influence now."

Alex nodded along. "So long as they don't send others to do their dirty work first." He scrunched his nose with distaste. "I have a feeling lots of people are going to be offered a reward if they can haul her home. Willing or no."

Juniper, who'd been watching the trees around them sway while listening in, decided to speak up then. "I think that the child has a lot to learn about the world outside of the rich part of Castelia." There was worry on her face, but also wisdom as she spoke to the group around her. "Those people her parents send after her will be a good learning experience for the girl. If she can learn to trust the Pokémon she'll get during her journey then she should be fine."

"Why would you say that?" Bianca huffed as she put her hands on her hips. "The child is only sixteen, and she has no prior experience with Pokémon. She'll have to learn a lot before she becomes a decent trainer."

Juniper laughed when she heard that. "She's like her grandmother in a lot of ways." Juniper explained with a shrug. There was a sad smile on the professor's face as she remembered the now dead elder. "God heavens, could that woman fight when she wanted too. I have no doubt the child picked up her grandmother's skill in dancing."

Alex nodded at this too. "She's one of the most naturally talented dancers I've ever seen. She's good at singing too, but thats from all her lessons as a child. She's got singing skill, but no real talent."

"Your mother once told me that a Pokéon battle seemed much like a violent dance to her." Juniper explained. "If Zeia is as good of a dancer as you say then the child will have no problems fighting after she picks up the basics."

The sound of branches swaying in the late summer wind was the only sound in the area for a moment. Everyone there was pondering the teenager who was even then making her way farther away from them.

"She'll be fine." Cheren decided. "There is nothing more we can do for her, so we might as well go all go home." Slowly and with obvious hesitance they all left. It was clear none of them wanted to leave. but it was also clear that they couldn't stand around pondering over Zeia for much longer. They had lives to live, and things to outside of helping that pale, black haired girl.


	9. The First Night

A/N: Last chapter to guess! Next chapter the egg hatches. Seriously people, GUESS NOW OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE. The answer is looking right beneath your noses. It's something so really obvious that I can picture it. Hint, hint.

**xXxXxXxXx**

**Heroes Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**

**In The Heart of an Empath.**

**Chapter Eight.**

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia stood in a field surrounded by long, waving grass. The grass was golden and starting to wilt as summer was nearing its end. The time of harvests was almost upon Unova and Pokémon were all around. There was a protective mother deerling watching her from the edge of the field as its baby ate its fill. Zeia could hear the low bark of Lillipups and the skittering of Patrats.

She wandered across the grassy field towards she she could see the path starting up again. Admittedly, she has never really known what one does on a journey when they are not training or battling. Since she could do neither with her egg Zeia decided to keep walking. Wild Pokémon would be to scared of humans to attack one, right?

Eventually the pale girl looked up and was startled to realise that it was dusk. She knew that routes were longer on foot then by Pokémon travel, be she had been sure she would have made it to Accumula Town before nightfall. Shrugging tiredly Zeia started looking around for a place to sleep. She wasn't stupid; she knew most trainers slept under the stars while on their journey. Tents are big and take up valuable space in a backpack that can only fit so many shrunken items.

Zeia found a spot under a large oak tree and settled down. She draped the black blanket on the ground and huddled under the Camouflaged one. The grey blanket was wrapped around her egg to keep it warm through the night. She didn't start a fire. 'It's not like it can get that cold in August,' she told herself. 'Besides, I don't know how to light one anyways.'

**xXxXxXxXx**

A small, black, fox like Pokémon trooped on through the night. It had made it from route ten all the way to Nimbasa City by taking the form of a bird. Dropping the illusion, the tiny fox set out to find a comfy bush to sleep under. It had a feeling that the one it wanted to thank was not where it had first met her. It didn't know how it knew, but the Pokémon knew better than to try and ignore instinct.

Finding a suitable bush it wormed its way under. The Pokémon could tell from the scent in the air than it was going to be very cold tonight. Curling up in a small bed of leaves the Pokémon chuffed happily. Its fur was thickening to prepare for the coming winter, so the little fox wouldn't get cold.

As the fox curled up and drifted off it couldn't help but be thankful that it wasn't human. At least it had fur!

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia once again cursed herself for not learning to start a fire. rabid shudders racked her frame as she curled around the egg. "I-I-It's S-s-s-so Cold!" She hissed out between clenched teeth.

Desperate for more warmth she opened up the clothing pouch on her bag and pulled out the sweater inside. It was she'd knitted for herself last winter, and was several sizes too big so that she could wear another underneath it. Zeia had always been one to get cold easily, so she'd learned to double layer when necessary. The sweater was black with small Pokéballs knitted all over. Fair Isle was a relatively new technique for her, but the sweater still looked quite well made. Most of all it was wool and very warm.

She popped the sweater on and stuck the egg underneath it against her stomach. If the eggs temperature dropped too low it would never hatch, and she was feeling attached to whatever was inside it already. Besides, it was just a baby, and she was its mother now.

As the wind picked up she quietly whimpered and curled up smaller under the blanket. For just a moment she thought of going home, but swiftly the raven haired child shucked that thought out of her head. 'I'm not giving up and failing right at the start,' she decided. With a sigh she closed her eyes and cleared her mind. She had to get some rest.

**xXxXxXxXx**

The fox like Pokémon curled up snugger into its bed of fallen leaves and listened to the wind howl. The branches of the bush it was hidden under shook and whispered under the winds assault, but the Pokémon was safe and warm.

Chuffing slightly, it settled in and prepared to go back to sleep.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia rose in the morning with a pained groan. Her entire body ached from shivering all night. It felt like her muscles were elastic bands that had been stretched too far and were now too loose. Muscle exhaustion is a bitch, after all.

After dealing with her basic hygiene Zeia started packing things away. It was warmer this day then it had been the day before, so she chose to change into a cotton dress and leggings. The egg was placed on her sling as usual.

Breakfast, well breakfast was interesting. Zeia couldn't for the life of her figure out how to start a fire so she resorted to munching on a protein bar as she walked. The bar did little to deal with the gnawing ache in her stomach, but Zeia had missed meals before. she ignored the issue for the moment as she headed out.

"I should have reached Accumula Town by yesterday night..." she pondered aloud between bites. It never occurred to her that speaking to the egg aloud would appear odd to any others around. She simply wanted someone, or thing, to speak to in the overly quiet forest. "I miss the noises of the city. It's far too still out here."

As she walked and muttered to herself she rubbed her arms swiftly. She was craving her tea, no matter what Iza said about it, she had been drinking it several times a day for years and had become used to it. Her fingernails scraped over her skin as she hissed. She wanted her tea, yes, but she didn't want to lose herself. She gave a mental huff. 'trust my parents to pick out an addictive mind control tea.' Her silver eyes fluttered closed on this thought.

The feeling of bugs under her skin made her snap them open. She kept walking. Zeia was simply trudging along secretly hoping to run across the town. The tall golden grass around her swayed against her grey dress as she waded through the tall fields. There were rustles around her, but so far she hadn't run into any wild Pokémon.

Glancing up at the sky she frowned. "Did I just jinx myself by thinking that?"

The world kindly refused to answer.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Review people, And I'll see you next chapter! Sorry this was so short, but the next one is the first import plot point, so stick around and REVEIW! please?


	10. The Little Teacher

A/N: So This was supposed to be the chapter where the egg hatches, but I ended up writing more about what was going on Accumula Town than I meant to. If I had kept going until the egg hatched then the chapter would be stupidly long compared to the other chapters in this fanfiction. If things go as planned the egg should hatch at the end of next chapter.

**xXxXxXxXx**

**Heroes Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**

**In The Heart of an Empath.**

**Chapter Nine.**

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia leaned against the side of a building and lazily watched the people going by. She'd seen Accumula Town and had happily run into the tiny town. Now she didn't know what she was doing, but Zeia could guess the basics. She had to refill her backpack and buy provisions.

She started with the food stuffs because she'd done it before. Well, not bought food for a Pokémon journey, but she had followed the maids around when they were grocery shopping. Zeia was sure she could do it be herself.

Eventually the girl found a store selling food. Wandering around the store, Zeia was overwhelmed. There were shelves of food and cans and things she didn't know the use of. in that instant Zeia realised that she was sheltered. Any normal person would know how to shop for food. '_Working class kids have probably been buying their own food since they turned ten.'_ She thought in a pessimistic tone. '_How am I supposed to do this?'_

"Do you need some help?" a soft voice startled Zeia. She whirled around to see a small boy of about nine standing behind her. He had shaggy blond hair and warm hazel eyes. Those hazel eyes were currently showcasing his amusement at the female in front of him. "You look like you've never been shopping before." The boy smiled.

Zeia felt a faint red flush creep up her cheeks, but managed to fight it down. "I haven't," she humbly replied. "Any help you are willing to offer would be by me greatly appreciated." She knew better than to turn down help because of pride. If the child could help her than Zeia would listen.

"Are you a nobel?" The boy frowned faintly as he asked. "You talk all funny like my mama says they do."

Zeia nodded and softly smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "I am," she told him. "That is why I started my Pokémon journey so late. Most aristocrats, nobles that is, are not allowed by their parents to go on one. Because of that fact I don't know how to do anything need for a journey like buying food or supplies."

The boy seemed to think her answer for a moment. '_She's friendly enough, even if she does talk funny.'_ He decided after a while. '_And mama says to always help those who don't know what they're doing. I can help her then leave to go home without any trouble.'_

"You need stuff that won't go bad." he fired off rapidly all of a sudden. Zeia had been watching the myriad of expressions his face had gone through while he was thinking, so she didn't act surprised when he started talking. "Like cans and packaged food. You also need some fresh fruit for snacks and stuff. Water is good too, because mama says you can't find good water everywhere all the times."

The boy took her through the store and helped her gather a weeks worth of food. "You'll want to carry more than that most of the time." The boy had told her as they browsed through the canned goods. "But Striaton city is only two days away, and if you get lots some of it will go bad. You don't want to waste. That's also why you eat the things that are closer to going bad first." He showed her where the expiry dates were on the cans and on the sealed packages of carrots and apple slices she took for snacks.

The child, who had introduced himself as Theo somewhere between the canned goods and the veggie isles, also showed Zeia how to tell if fresh produce was any good. He made her tap and sniff different fruits and vegetables for near half of an hour before they moved on. "You are being quite meticulous in your training of me," Zeia mentioned off handily. "You should be a tutor and teach classes on things people need to know on Pokémon journeys. You could charge a fee per class and make a nice living off of it, or you could do private tutoring for the nobles who let their kids have journeys."

"A tutor is a teacher for hire, not one from a school, right?" Theo asked as he led her to the check out. "I like teaching people things. Do tutors make enough to support families? Mom says she has to work because daddy doesn't make enough to support our family since the pay cut to the logging around here. I don't like it when mommy has to work because she always comes home tired."

Zeia was quite as they went through the checkout. She'd moved some of her spare cash from its hiding place to her wallet and paid with that. Eventually they left to a nearby bench outside the store where she placed all her food stuffs in the left side pouch. "Does your family have enough to eat?" She didn't look at Theo while she spoke. She'd never gone hungry for long, and she couldn't imagine a family not being able to feed their own. Zeia frowned slightly as she realised that the gap between the upper class and the working class was larger than she had thought.

"My and my sisters do." Theo assured her happily. "Mommy and daddy eat most of the time, but every few days they don't eat at all. Mom says its because we don't have enough. I try to eat less so there's more for my parents. Mommy gets mad at me sometimes and says that I need to eat so I can grow."

"Children need to eat to grow up strong so that they can support their future families." Zeia explained. She reached into her wallet and pulled out a 50,000 Poké bill (1). "Since you were such a good tutor I'll pay you. That way when you are famous I can say I was your first paying student." She winked at Theo then, and he giggled in return as he put the bill in his pocket.

She stood up and curtsied to the small child. The egg wobbled in its sling, but Zeia was practiced enough that she didn't lean forwards when she curtsied so the egg didn't fall out. Theo clumsy bowed back to her. "Thank you for all you help Theo." Zeia straightened up and kissed the child on the top of his head. She ignore his blush as she put her backpack on and started to walk away. "Maybe someday we will meet again."

The child was left to wave sadly at her as she strode off towards the other half of the town.

**xXxXxXxXx**

The small black, fox like Pokémon raced through the desert of route 4. Its fur was full of sand, but it kept going at a steady pace. Instinct warned it and the dark type jumped away from the blow of a Sandile. A couple of Fury swipes later and the Pokémon was rushing off none the worse for ware. The Pokémon had a human to thank, and the longer it took to find her the more likely she wouldn't be where it had last seen her.

The fox shook its head and kept going. It would find her. There were no other humans that looked like her that smelled like her too. The Pokémon took a moment to stop beneath a sleeping Maractus for shelter from the sandstorm. It also took that time to ponder on the females strange scent. It had smelled many like her before. That strange scent of power and age filled the blood of most of the trainers who made it to fight the dark types master.

The fox had always assumed that the scent meant something about skill. Most of the humans it had met, for the scent was only ever mixed in to a human's blood, that had that scent also had a special talent they were good at. The Pokémon pondered some more on the scent as the storm shifted around it. It knew that its trainer, the one who could speak to Pokémon, also carried that scent, but it was much weaker than the female who had saved the fox.

The wind died down and the Pokémon scampered off before the Maractus could become annoyed at its presence. It had better things to do now that the sandstorm was gone anyways.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia had stopped off at a camping store and bought herself some good trainers. She's also gotten a small pamphlet on how to start a fire without a Pokémon's aid. A small first aid kit for humans had been added to her kit along with a larger one for Pokémon. The egg would need care when it hatched, and the Pokémon would need to be trained to fight. Zeia knew she had to be prepared for some bumps and scrapes since it's not like there would be a Pokécenter whenever she need one.

After that she had stopped at a small restaurant and had lunch. She was enjoying the roast Tepig sandwich and the fires she'd ordered with it. Something inside her had twinged at the thought of eating a Pokémon but she shoved it aside. There were no other meat things but Pokémon to eat and she wasn't cut out to be a vegetarian. '_Not there is anything wrong with those who are too close to Pokémon to eat them.'_ Zeia thought as she chewed. '_It is simply that I cannot see myself giving up meat just because the things we eat also live with us. Besides, Pokémon eat each other all the time. Some Pokémon will even eat humans in the wild if they find one. We humans are just another rung on the food chain doing what we must to survive.' _She nodded to herself at that.

Eventually she finished and paid for her meal before stopping at a corner store. A traveler's bathing supply kit was her next purchase, along with a hair brush and some hair ribbons. Having put everything away she stretched before glancing at the sun. It was about halfway done its decent, so Zeia figured she had more than enough time to find a campground before sunset. With that in mind the sixteen year old set off. She had things to do before nightfall, and tonight she would have a fire!

**xXxXxXxXx**

Theo's mother stared at the bill held loosely in the young boys palm. "Where did you get that, sweetie?" she asked hesitantly. It was clear on her face that she was worried he would say he stole it. She knew that her son knew of their families money problem, after all feeding a family of five off of a logger's paycheck was difficult before the pay slash her husband's company had gone through, but she didn't want her son to turn to thieving. That was why she had got a part time job at the nearby restaurant.

"A lady gave it to me 'cause I taught her what she needed to get for her Pokémon journey." Theo explained, happily oblivious to the thoughts in his mother's head. "She said I should offer to train nobles like her when I'm bigger mama. Said I'd make a good tutor!"

"She said I would make a good tutor," his mother corrected him in a daze. Fifty dollars wasn't much in the long run, but it would allow them to keep up to date on this month's mortgage payment. The noble could have left his son with nothing, so she was very thankful that this person had chose to pay back her son's good will. Even if she didn't like the thought of Theo being near some adult he didn't know. "You'll have to learn to speak properly if you want to be a tutor, and that means paying attention in English class. That will be a lot of effort Theo, and what did I tell you about approaching strange adults?"

The boy shot his mother an apologetic look. "Not to do it?" He waited for his mother's nod before attempting to defend his actions. "She wasn't an adult mama. She was like Penny's age at the most, and she was really confused. I just helped her out in the grocery store. It wasn't like I followed her someplace dark. She was nice too."

Theo's mother sighed before ruffling her son's hair. Penny was her eldest daughter, and was nearly sixteen. 'That means that the girl could be anywhere from fifteen to seventeen years old. Theo is a child so he could be a little off in guessing her age. She's quite old for her journey though. Aristocratic kids who go on Pokémon journeys normally go around thirteen or fourteen.' The woman hummed lowly for a couple of seconds.

"I'll ask your uncle about his friend who was tutor." Theo smiled as she told him that. "Maybe he can tell us what sort of schooling you need for that sort of job."

Theo went to bed with a smile on his face. His mother put the money in her bank and paid off their mortgage payment for the month. With the last of the bills paid she wouldn't have to worry about if she could afford meals for six each day. Things were looking up for her family.

**xXxXxXxXx**

(1) Remember that Poké is the money of the Pokémon world, and to take three zeros off of the number to get the equivalent in Canadian dollars. Or just divide by one hundred. Zeia gave Theo a fifty dollar bill.

How I work out my prices for things is I guess at how much they would be worth in Canada, then I times that by one hundred, or add three zeros to the end. It's the same thing.

Also, review please! Reviews feed the hungry author!

And go check out lynzylu and her story Heroes Born and Made: Hope's Story. Eventually our protagonists will be meeting up!


	11. The Egg Hatches

A/N: The first person to guess, ClockALock, got it right. Which is really good thing for you guys since it was the kick in the pants I needed to write the rest of this chapter. Otherwise you guys probably wouldn't be getting this until next month.

So ClockALock, you are officially the reason why this chapter exists. Congrats. I am sorry it took so long, but I got sick after the exams and couldn't type. Then I got attacked by a pitbull, caused an accident, and fell behind in my online math course. The mid terms of the math course are on friday.

Real Life really has it out for me...

Jestie Uchiha just because some creepy pervert stall owner from the black market tells you something doesn't mean that what he told you is true. Zeia knew better than to believe him because he might have been lying to her. She picked the egg because it was still warm and alive unlike some of the others at the stall, which were cold and dead. What was in the egg didn't matter to her all that much at that point.

**xXxXxXxXx**

**Heroes Born and Made: Zeia's Story.**

**In The Heart of an Empath.**

**Chapter Ten.**

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia glared irritably at the splatter of red staining her cotton dress. She'd know - how could she not since it had hurt so much when the stupid things had torn open - that she'd started bleeding. The red sinking into her clothing from beneath was proof enough of that. She would stop and wrap the wound, but then she'd have to see them. She didn't want to see them. She just wanted to pretend it had never happened and never gotten in the way of how she danced. Dancers are supposed to be flexible, and those _things_ break open if she twists the wrong way.

Zeia really disliked her scars.

A warning twinge across her stomach and side told her she didn't have a choice. She'd flipped her backpack up across her shoulders after taking it off for a short break only to twist the wrong way. All day her dress had rubbed the scars on her stomach and sides, but the twist was what really did it. The stupid things had broken open!

Zeia sat with a huff and shrugged off her backpack. She couldn't leave them unbound and bleeding so she was clearly going to have to tend to the bleeding wounds. Not that they were bleeding heavily. Really it was only oozing a little blood, but if she ran into anyone on the trail they were sure to see it and try to help her.

The last thing Zeia wanted was attention. Attention led to people remembering your face and telling the police they'd seen a runway. Attention led to being caught and hauled home.

She remembered how she'd gotten the stupid scars in the first place while she was pulling out her first aid kit and preparing the bandages. Really it was her own fault. She'd been her usual eight year old self and had snuck out one night. Only, she hadn't gone to the warehouse she normally snuck out to. No, Zeia had gone into the desert to play in the moon chilled sand instead. She'd danced there and then in the moon filled desert. She'd spun and jumped to her heart's content.

Then she'd run into that Pokémon. Big with magenta skin and black stripes. The Krokodile had taken one swipe at her before she'd turned and raced back home. It had followed angrily, and managed to get in several more stripes in before it had given up chasing her. Those long white claws had been stained scarlet with her blood.

The worst part of that whole ordeal was that the scars - the ones she hated so much because they got in the way of her dancing how she wanted too - were entirely her fault. So afraid that she would be denied her nightly wanders, Zeia had decided not to tell anyone about the wounds. For six days and nights she had washed and wrapped her wounds herself. Her parents had thought that her want to dress herself rather than let a maid do it was just part of her growing up. Iza had been away for a family emergency and her temporary replacement didn't know Zeia enough to see that something had been wrong.

On the seventh day she'd fallen over in a dead faint right in front of her parents.

Doctors had been called and large scary words - at least for her eight year old self - had been banded around above her head. Things like 'viral infection,' 'Pokémon claw damage,' 'partially healed,' and 'permanent scarring' had been spat across her bedroom as the doctors had poked and prodded her infected sides. Puss had been drained and antibiotics had been shoved down her throat before the day was out.

What Zeia had not known at the time, but knew now that she was older, was that the doctors could have helped if she'd just gone to them a couple of days sooner than her fainting fit. The doctors could have sewn her up and prevented almost all the scarring. Instead she'd gotten an infection and the scars had stretched over the swelling. There was nothing the doctors could do then and she was left to heal.

There was a surgery to cut out and reduce the scarring, but by the time she had been old enough to have it the family doctor had concocted the story of her being too fragile for a Pokémon journey. If she couldn't live through a journey then she couldn't live through what was a purely cosmetic surgery.

So Zeia was stuck with the stupid scars that stretched and broke open when she twisted the wrong way or moved to suddenly. The Krokodile had gotten her across her left side, the entire expanse of her back, and diagonally across her stomach. At their smallest points some scars were only half a centimeter thick, but at the widest point of her widest scar - the one that ran across her back from her shoulder blades to the top of her ass - the scar tissue was almost three centimeters across.

That meant acrobatics and any dancing that required tumbling was now out of her reach.

With a sigh Zeia shrugged and glanced down. She'd completely wrapped her stomach and upper chest to right below her breasts. A thin layer of Polispore had been added to the gauze to encourage healing before she'd wrapped herself. It wasn't like the scars could get any larger, but they could get sore and achey. Zeia really didn't need that right now.

She shrugged again before carefully sliding the backpack back on. Zeia would have liked to stay longer but she had the oddest feeling of being watched. It unsettled her hand made Zeia move out of the clearing she'd been sitting in at a slight jog. She patted the egg as she set off. The same feeling of peace filled her, but there was also excitement and anticipation. She felt like something was coming. Something she had been waiting for a long time.

"Getting ready to hatch there buddy?" she asked the egg. It had been rocking a lot that day. "I remember in school we were told that eggs move about before they hatch. Am I going to get to meet you soon? I suppose that means that I've been keeping you warm enough at night." She smiled and stroked the egg as she walked, wishing that the egg could feel her happiness and excitement for its hatching. "I wonder what kind of Pokémon you are..."

Zeia was too distracted to notice the leaves ruffle ominously behind her.

**xXxXxXxXx**

In a back room of a bar called The Mermaid's Delight several people met.

Rachel Cooper was sitting at the head of the table. Her green eyes were cover by a pair of shaded glasses. Her brown locks were covered by a black veil. The public thought she was mourning her missing child. Her fellow conspirators knew it was just an act. It's hard to miss your run away child when you had spent the last four years of your life preparing to help her run off.

On either side of her were Iza and Alexander Mathews. Seeing all three together it was hard to deny that they were clearly related. The three shared a hair and eye color, but they also had very similar facial features. Iza and Rachel could have been twins they were that similar.

A Officer Jenny sat across from them. Her uniform was slightly wrinkled from a hard days work, but she wouldn't allow her tiredness to get in the way of their mission. All of them had been working far too long for this. None of them would willingly mess their mission up now that they were so close.

On either side of officer Jenny was Burgh and a small boy in a wheelchair. Burgh was just as flamboyantly colorful as ever. The boy was dressed in blue jeans and a red T-shirt. Some of the people in the room were shooting him uncertain looks.

"My mother kept him up to date on the going ons of our little group." Iza said to the room at large. "He was once in a very similar position as Zeia, and she helped him out."

Jenny frowned at the boy at her side. "He's far too young to be trusted. How do we know he won't blab." Her blue eyes bore into the child's. She expected him to flinch and move away - after all she'd made some of the toughest criminals in Unova crack with her glare - but he simply smiled up at her. There was something subtly mocking in that look.

She narrowed her eyes and tried glaring harder. The boy kept smiling for a second before his eyes darkened and he glared right back. Jenny nearly through herself out of her chair in an attempt to escape the suddenly very dark and intimidating eyes before her. They's been a soft blue before when he had been smiling, but now they seemed almost metallic in coloring. The stare was unnerving. The Officer felt like he could see into her very soul.

Considering what Zeia, and apparently this boy as well, was... well, that was a terrifying thought.

"I'm going to look for her and help her out after she gets her first gym badge." The little blond boy announced to the group at large. Everyone could tell he was mainly speaking to Iza though. She looked straight at him and attempted to meet him eye to eye. His eyes were still a metallic blue as he met her's.

Iza took a deep breath but managed not to look away. "Mother never mentioned what your gift is... Are you like Zeia?" She hedged around outright asking him, but the child looked uncomfortable anyways.

He hesitantly bit his lip before shifting. Clearly he didn't want to answer the question. "Let us just say that my skill set is mental powered based like Zeia's is, but we have very different powers."

"Why should we trust you boy?" Rachel asked. Her eyes narrowed at the preteen in the wheelchair. The boy met her eyes without flinching. Rachel sneered at him using the look that Zeia liked to steal to intimidate others. "We don't even know who you are."

The blond boy laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. "I'm Thomas Ramos. I'm sure you've heard of me."

An eerie silence filled the room.

**xXxXxXxXx**

A rapture filled groan was released from pink lips as Zeia shoved her heavy backpack from her shoulder. She whipped off her running shoes with a happy noise. Her toes with their toes still faintly painted blue wiggled in the grass beneath them.

The bush behind her shifted.

Zeia shifted and carefully pulled off the leggings she was wearing. The egg was still in its sling as she straightened back up. Its calm and patient warmth lay settled against her chest. Zeia ran her fingers against its blue, black, and maroon colored shell.

The bush rustled harder.

A frown curled over her lips as she listened to the rustling behind her. "Probably a Lillipup or something." She huffed. With a shrug she chose to ignore it.

Something in the bush howled.

She whirled around, but Zeia was too late and too slow to stop the Pokémon from taking a swipe at her. The sharp blade of the tiny Pokémon slit through her dress and drew a shallow cut on her hip. Zeia stared in shock at the angry Pokémon before her. The large blade on its head and the twin points on its arms told her that it was a Pawniard. Definitely not native to the area around route two.

The Pawniard lunged again, and Zeia just barely managed to avoid its second lunge. She jumped back desperately and dodged to the left, but the Pawniard lashed out with its other hand; Zeia was forced to dodge a second time. The two kept up their strange dance. Zeia would dodge the Pokémon's swipe and it would throw out another which Zeia would also be forced to dodge. The Pokémon, however, had a lot more energy, and was made for swiping at things it was attacking. Zeia most certainly not built to keep jumping about in an uneven were all sorts of dips and bumps in the field that she had to keep avoiding while moving backwards at a speed Zeia wasn't used to moving at for long periods of time. She also had to keep the egg from dropping out of its sling.

The Pawniard swiped at Zeia faster that she could dodge. She could tell that she couldn't avoid the incoming blow, so Zeia jumped up rather than backwards. She ended up taking the blow on her thigh rather than her gut like the Pawniard had been aiming for.

Her blood splattered the grass of the field. The Pawniard clearly wasn't pulling any punches.

Zeia stumbled and fell, hitting her knees to avoid rolling her ankle. The Pawniard's eyes seemed to light up as it lunged to sink one of its rapiers through her chest. Zeia didn't even have time to think, so her next movement was completely instinct. She tossed her self backwards and tried to cushion the blow to the egg. More of her blood splattered about - this time over the egg. Crimson streaks joined the maroon speckles that had already been on the egg shell.

Zeia gave out a horrified scream as the egg cracked.

**xXxXxXxXx**

Officer Jenny drew Rachel and Iza towards an empty end of a nearby alley. The meeting had let out only a few minutes prior, yet the officer had more she needed to chat with her co-conspirators about. The two half-sisters saw the worried look on Jenny's face and swiftly joined her in the alley way.

"That boy," Jenny started right away, "what was with him that made you stop arguing when he introduced himself?"

Iza bit her lip before nodding slowly. "Is his name in any way familiar to you?" She asked. "He was on the news four years or so ago. It was a really big scandal. You might remember his family name, Ramos?"

"Ramos?" Jenny hummed slowly. Suddenly her eyes lit up. "I remember. The Ramos family had a heir who they tried to stop from leaving for his journey. A fight broke out and the child

supposedly fell down the stairs. No foul play could ever be proved because evidence kept mysteriously disappearing. I heard that the child's family all died in a fire caused by an uncleaned fireplace. It was a tragic accident that couldn't have happened to better people."

Rachel nodded along with the blue haired woman. "Yeah, the child was Thomas. That is why he has a wheelchair, and why a thirteen year old boy is now a multi-millionaire. The Ramos family is real big in the Pokémon meat farming business."

Jenny relaxed slowly. "So he's safe then? Because he has suffered in a similar situation, the Ramos boy will not betray Zeia?"

"He can't turn traitor." Iza reassured her worried friend. A sly look appeared in her eyes. "He owes us from when my mother arranged for him to go on his Pokémon journey. Apparently the children of the elven bloodlines always have to pay back debts. They can't rest until they have paid their debt holders back, or something like that."

The three women shared pleased smiles at that thought. They went to separate and go their own ways when Alex ran up to them. "Wait!" He cried. "Sisters, Jenny. I need to ask you something."

Iza shot her brother a curious look. "Yes?"

"What do you remember about the songs Mother used to teach Zeia?" Alex asked the three women. Worry was clear on his face as he looked the three women in each of their eyes. "Did any of you ever hear of a song called the 'Banned Ballad' from Mother or Zeia?"

All the females shook their heads. "Never heard of it." Iza admitted. It was obvious that she was wondering where this line of conversation was going.

Alex passed the three women a photocopy of the song's lyrics each. "Zeia and another girl who sang it both just sang it to their own tunes so I didn't try to get the music down. It seems more like a poem than a song."

"That is what a ballad is." Rachel rolled her eyes at her half-sibling. "A ballad is a poem designed to be sung. The music of older ballads is often lost in time because they are passed down orally. It probably doesn't help that Mother and Zeia are both dancers. Zeia can carry a tune, but she isn't going to win any competitions with her singing. Mother could hardly keep on key."

Iza looked up from her readthrough of the ballad. "This is about the elves?" She waited for Alex's nod before going back to the song. "I wonder why the ballad was written..."

None of them had noticed a certain blond boy rolling up behind them. "The 'Banned Ballad' was written so that the children of the bloodlines of the elves would know their history. The singing and teaching of the ballad was banned shortly after it was made... which was shortly after the war between species."

All the adults jumped as Thomas spoke from behind them. "Ramos!" Rachel squealed. "Don't sneak up on people!"

"Cooper, last names are only used between families that have blood feuds or people who haven't been formally introduced. I do believe we are done that by now." Thomas slyly mocked the overly tight woman. "Do take that stick out of your ass."

Alex laughed uproariously when he saw the pinched look that appeared Rachel's face. "He has you there sister." The burly man winked at the petite child.

"Don't worry about teaching any of the old traditions of the eleven bloodlines to Zeia." Thomas assured everyone. "The Ramos family has always been very proud of its nonhuman blood. The children who showed elven gifts were always favored over others and kept safe from harm."

Thomas saw the hesitant look on Officer Jenny's face as he spoke. She suddenly found herself being pinned down by angry metallic blue eyes. "My fall down the stairs was an accident. My family and I were arguing and the person who pushed me didn't realise we were so close to the stairs." Thomas sniffed angrily before turning his wheelchair about and starting to wheel away.

"Don't worry about Zeia," Thomas threw lazily over his shoulder as he wheeled away. "I'll keep her safe until she's ready to walk on her own two feet."

**xXxXxXxXx**

Zeia stared in horror as the surface of the egg cracked. The egg suddenly rocked and the crack expanded. Brushing her fingers across the cracking egg brought feelings of excitement and determination to Zeia.

A strange glowing blue light spilled out of the egg before the shell exploded away from it. Zeia and the Pawniard stared in shock at the Pokémon who was revealed when the light faded.

The Pokémon was short and stubby with mainly blue skin. Its head was covered with what seemed like a black mane of some sorts that covered where its eyes should be, but left room for its muzzle to stick out. The black mane was made out of skin, not hair, and came down to the Pokémon's shoulders and chest. The mane also rose up into a point at the top of the Pokémon's head.

Zeia was sure if she was standing up the top of that head spike would only reach the middle of her thigh. The Pokémon shook its head and stumbled towards where Zeia and the Pawniard were. Its movement seemed to break the spell of silence that had fell over the field because the Pawniard chose that moment to lunge at the newest threat in the field.

Once again Zeia reacted on instinct. The Pokémon was tiny and clearly blind. Not only that but it was a newly hatched baby as well. You don't hurt babies. It's just not something that is done. Zeia tossed herself in front of the blow heading straight for the unaware Pokémon.

Agony raced across her arm as the Pawniard sliced it open. Behind her the blue and black Pokémon shifted and bawled in surprise and fear.

The Pokémon snuggled against Zeia's warmth and licked at the bleeding gash on her arm. It nuzzled her softly and mewled. Zeia smiled as its stumbling and whining reminded her even more of a baby than it had before.

Something curled through Zeia in that instant. Something feral and yet innocent. It slid through her veins and across her skin for several seconds before fading out as if it had used up all its energy and been forced to disappear. Zeia couldn't help but whimper at the loss of whatever that had been. She felt strangely empty without it.

With some concentration she forced herself to pay attention the the outside world again.

The Pawniard let out an angry squawk at being thwarted. It hopped about for a minute, which gave Zeia enough time to shift into a crouch and pet the blue and black Pokémon, before it straightened out. Angry eyes narrowed as the Pawniard snarled at Zeia and her Pokémon. The mystery Pokémon yowled back and shook its head in the direction of the Pawniard.

"Don't!" Zeia cried, but it was too late. The newly hatched Pokémon had lunged for the Pawniard. Its mouth closed over a part of the bladed Pokémon's arm before the blue Pokémon shook its head. The Pawniard was thrown about like a rag doll.

When the mystery Pokémon let go the Pawniard was sent flying into the forest. A large smashing noise alerted Zeia to the fact that the Pawniard's flight had been put to an end by the hard trunk of a tree. Both she and the newly hatched Pokémon froze for a moment and listened for a moment. When they failed to hear any sort of movement they both turned to each other.

"Now then, what are you?" Zeia murmured as she looked the blue Pokémon over. She let out a relieved sigh when she realised that the Pokémon was uninjured. While she was examining it the Pokémon had scooted over nearer to her. It choose a moment several seconds after she drifted off in thought to nip at her fingers.

The sharp pinch of the Pokémon's bite brought Zeia out of her pondering. "Hey!" She cried in shock . "Don't do that! I'm not edible, silly!" The Pokémon shook its head before snuggling against her arm. It calmed down as Zeia slowly pet its neck. The coos it released made Zeia smile softly at it.

Eventually Zeia lay back in the grass and softly patted the Pokémon. It followed her down and snuggled to her side quite happily. "What should I call you?" All Zeia got for the cooed out question was a tiny mewl and a sleepy yawn. "I bet you're tired after hatching and that fight." She ran her fingers across the black 'mane' of the Pokémon with a smile.

"I'm going to call you fluffy since you are so cute." Zeia told the half asleep Pokémon beside her. It let out another yawn at that. "Don't worry," she assured it, "I'll let you sleep. My biology teacher once told us that being born is the physically hardest thing anyone will ever do, so you must be really tired. You can nap for a while here. I'll keep watch."

Humming softly Zeia coaxed the baby Pokémon into sleep before settling down herself. She shifted on the grass to get comfortable and let the Pokémon snuggle up to her still lightly bleeding side. Basic rules of first aid demanded the injuries be seen to but Zeia was simply too tired. Something in the back of her mind was screeching about blood loss and needing bandages, but Zeia ignored it to rest on the grass with the Pokémon. Carefully she shifted her backpack off and to her other side. She had a feeling she was going to be here for a while and she didn't want to wake up with a cramp.

As she touched the blue Pokémon at her side Zeia felt many strange feelings wash over her. She felt tired, safe, protected, and happy. She also felt victorious over something, but she had no clue of what. Something even deeper inside of her than the voice that was still worrying over blood loss was another voice. This one was huffing over shields and foreign emotions. She tried to listen to it but the emotions swept her up and sank her into a strange blackness.

**xXxXxXxXx**

The little blue and black dragon that lay curled up against Zeia mewed happily. Its first day out of its egg had gone very well. It had hatched successfully with very little help and it had beaten off the metal tasting thing that had made the Big One bleed. Now it was happily resting with the Big One in a warm field with lots of sun. The hatchling knew that the field was not where it should grow up, but it was sure the Big One would find it a nice cave eventually.

Clearly the Big One was its protector and had watched over and warmed it while it was an egg. That meant that the Big One was also its Nest Mother. The dragon huffed happily at this thought before licking more blood off of Zeia's side. After a moment it curled up closer to its Nest Mother and snuffled her. _'Nest Mother got injured protecting me.'_ It realised. _'Nest Mother must be weak for some reason. I will have to protect Nest Mother from everything until Nest Mother is better.'_

With that decided the little dragon curled up to sleep and finally drifted off. It would protect its mother from everything. Just as soon as it rested a little...


End file.
